Julia Morgan
finished reading the ad and turned hostile green eyes up to glare at her sister. “What is
this, Katie, some kind of a joke?”

“Not at all,” Katie said, “That ad was written with you
in mind. You swim, you play piano, and well, I’d say you can handle basic first aid.”

“I didn’t study medicine for eight years to be a
nanny.”

Katie grunted. “You also speak three languages and
play a mean piano, yet you haven’t touched the keys or seen a patient for eight weeks. Are you
planning to sit around and mope for the rest of your life?”

“I’m not moping dammit, I’m depressed. You’re the
psychiatrist, can’t you recognize depression when you see it?”

Rough Edges by Jannifer Hoffman

“Sure, I also recognize self-pity. And, Julia, you’re
up to your ears in it.”

“I have good reasons.”

“Well yes, I’ll grant you that. You divorced your
no-good cheating husband, and since he was the chief-of-staff at the hospital he made it
impossible for you to stay on. What can I say, Geno Campanili is an ass, I’m glad you took
your maiden name back. I wish I had. But County Med isn’t the only hospital in
Minneapolis—surely with seven years practicing medicine behind you—”

“You’re way off base and you know it!”

Katie took a deep breath. “Okay, I know it’s more than
the divorce and losing your job. And I’m sorry. But—”

Scalding wet tears welled up in Julia’s eyes. “I lost
my babies, my precious twins. Do you really think taking care of somebody else’s twins will
make up for that?”

Katie sat down and put an arm around her sister.
“Julia, you’re three years older than me and I’ve always looked up to you. With Mom and Dad
gone, we’re the only family we have, there’s nobody on this earth I love more than you. That’s
why I’m telling you it’s time to get on with your life. I know that sounds cliché but I don’t
know any better way to say it. Get out there and start living again. Look at you—every time I
come over here you have that same old gray sweat suit on. For God’s sake it’s the Fourth of
July, get out and do something.”

Julia pushed a hand through her shoulder-length auburn
hair and brushed a tear from her cheek. “I’m not ready.”

Rough Edges by Jannifer Hoffman

Katie hesitated a moment, then sighed. “You’ve never
told me what happened that night you miscarried a perfectly healthy five-month pregnancy, but
if I ever find out Geno had anything to do with it, I swear I’ll personally kill him.”

“People go to jail for murder, Katie.”

“Yeah, well we both know that doesn’t always happen.
Are you afraid of him, Julia?”

“Can we change the subject?”

Katie gave Julia a sad smile. “Of course, I didn’t
want to talk about bygones anyway. You need to start creating a new past.”

Julia blinked away her tears and smiled. “Spoken like
a true professional.”

Katie grinned. “Okay, let’s get back to the ad. I
think it’s an omen. I had nothing to do during my three-hour layover in Denver, so I picked up
a paper laying on the seat beside me and here’s this ad right in front of me with a big yellow
highlighted circle around it. I knew immediately that rancher was looking for you. His
requirements fit you perfectly.”

“You’re hallucinating, Katie, I’ve never sat on a horse
in my life.”

“So three out of four isn’t too bad. Besides, it’s a
lot easier to learn to ride a horse than it is to play piano.”

Rough Edges by Jannifer Hoffman

“I told you I’m not going to waste a medical degree being
a nanny.”

Katie rolled her cocoa colored eyes. “So what have you
been doing with your degree for the last two months? And you wouldn’t have to do it forever.
Just promise you’ll think about it. And don’t worry about the references. I have more than
three friends whose children you’ve treated and any of them will be happy to put in a good word
for you.”

“Like I said, it’s an omen,” Katie said grinning. “And
the best part of all, it’s nine hundred miles away. You can just disappear and Geno will never
know what happened to you.”

#####

The next morning Julia was in the middle of typing her
resume when the phone rang.

It was Geno.

“Hi, honey. How are you?”

Julia’s stomach lurched. “What do you want, Geno?”

“Meet me for lunch. I’d like to talk to you.”

Julia took a deep breath. It had taken all the
fortitude she had to divorce him and she couldn’t back down now. Geno would hound her forever
if she didn’t stand up to him. “We have nothing more to say to each other. Our divorce is final
and so is our life together.”

Rough Edges by Jannifer Hoffman

“The divorce was a mistake, Julia. We belong together.
I still love you, sweetheart.”

Julia gritted her teeth. “Did you love me when you
were screwing Lana Becker in your office?”

“I told you Lana means nothing to me. You’re the one I
love. Let’s at least talk about it.”

“That might be possible if it were the first time. But
you and I both know there’ve been others.” Julia drew a deep breath letting it out in a rush.
“I shouldn’t have been surprised I guess, after all, I used to be one of those interns.”

“But you were different, I loved you.”

Did you also love Danielle and Mandy?”

“They were trash, Julia.”

“Is that why they both lost their jobs?”

“Julia—”

“I’m through, Geno. I’m going on with my life and you
aren’t in my plans.”

Julia was about to hang up when Geno’s chilling voice
bit into her. “I hope your plans don’t include practicing medicine. I can make that a little
difficult for you.”

“You can’t stop me. County Med isn’t the only
hospital in town.”

Rough Edges by Jannifer Hoffman

“No, but with your record, you won’t get taken on
anywhere else either.”

“My record is impeccable!”

“What about that little incident with the Nelson baby?”

Pain wrenched Julia along with the memory of a
seven-month-old baby boy dying in her arms. “I couldn’t have saved that child and you know
it.”

“No, but you might have been able to prevent it from
happening.”

“I had no way of knowing his father was abusing him.
Besides, I was already cleared of that.”

“Just between you and me, honey, records can be
changed. There’s likely to be a new development in that case.”

“You bastard! Stay out of my life!” Julia slammed the
phone down. Closing her eyes, breathing heavily, she pressed cold shaking hands to her warm
face. She knew Geno all too well. He had the power to save lives but he also had the power to
destroy them. She’d seen him do it before.

Geno was one of the most sought after and respected
surgeons in the city. Minneapolis was a big community but when it came to the medical field,
it was like a small town—everybody knew everyone else—at least those who’d made a name for
themselves. And Geno Campanili was at the top of that list. It was futile to try to explain
her side of the story. Who would believe her? Who would believe that the renowned Dr.
Campanili had a dark side that he kept hidden from the public? He didn’t know where she lived
but he had too many connections—he could find her.

Rough Edges by Jannifer Hoffman

After two hours of pacing her small apartment, Julia
called her sister’s office.

The receptionist must have been out because Katie
answered the phone. “This is Dr. Katie Benson.”

“Katie, it’s—”

“Julia! You changed your mind about the ad. You want
to go to Colorado.”

Katie chuckled. “I just know you, sis. Colorado could
be good for you. This rancher might be a handsome stud.”

“After Geno, I’ve sworn off handsome studs. In fact,
I’m not interested in men period. It’s the children that intrigue me. I’ve always enjoyed
kids; that’s why I chose pediatrics. I think maybe it is time for a change of scenery and
while I’m there I can check out the local clinics in Denver.”

“That would be great,” Katie said. “I go through
Denver regularly. I could see you almost as often as I do now.”

“I’m going to think of this as a vacation. How hard
can it be to take care of two four-year-olds? I don’t even care about the money. Fortunately,
Geno and I kept our finances separate. Since I was the saver, I don’t have any financial
worries.”

“And you still have your trust fund.”

Rough Edges by Jannifer Hoffman

“That’s the only bright spot in this whole mess,” Julia
said. “I never told him about it. Ironic isn’t it? The only way he could get his hands on
Dad’s money was if we had children together.”

What Julia didn’t tell Katie was that she hadn’t been
ready to have children with Geno. Even though he’d brought it up a few months before she’d
actually gotten pregnant. But then there was a lot about Geno she couldn’t tell her sister,
even now after the divorce was final. Katie wouldn’t understand—no one would understand why an
educated successful woman would stay married to a man like Geno if they knew the full truth
about him.

“I know he didn’t want you to get pregnant, he used to
say some baloney about you being all he needed. It was always about what he needed, wasn’t
it?”

“I don’t want to talk about Geno,” Julia said.

“That restriction Dad put on us has always teed me
off. It’s like he’s trying to control our lives from the grave. I swear he left his money to
us only because he had no one else to give it to. God, he was such a tightwad.”

“He paid for our education. He expected us to use it
to support ourselves.”

“Stop making excuses for him, Julia. You’re in denial.
You know as well as I do what a control freak he was. I don’t believe you’d ever have married
Geno if Dad hadn’t—”

Julia’s fingers squeezed down on the receiver. “That’s
a closed subject. And stop psychoanalyzing me. Save it for your patients.”

Rough Edges by Jannifer Hoffman

A heartbeat of silence hung between them before Katie
spoke again, more softly. “I’m sorry. It’s just that—”

“So how do I go about answering this ad?” Julia asked
quickly wanting to end the subject of both Geno and their father.

“Katie, for an educated person you can be such a twit.
What if I hadn’t wanted to go?”

“Ah, but I knew you would.”

Julia bit back a frustrated reply. “Just what did you
tell him? And what about the references? And—”

“All taken care of.”

“Katie, did you tell him I’m a doctor?”

“Of course not. He’d know you’re grossly overqualified
and he’d never hire you. Here’s the fun part. I got a response back this morning. Stay put;
I have two hours before my next appointment. I’ll be over in fifteen minutes.
Bye.”

A resounding click echoed in Julia’s ear. She stared
at the phone a moment before snapping it firmly back in its cradle. Her hands were shaking.

Rough Edges by Jannifer Hoffman

Damn, her take-charge sister.

As much as she loved Katie, sometimes her sister went
too far. Julia had wanted a few days to get used to the idea of going to Colorado. Maybe by
then the position would have been filled—or she might have had time to change her mind. Of
course, she still could, she told herself. Let Katie explain to the rancher what she’d done.
It would serve her right.

Julia was still annoyed when the doorbell started
ringing non-stop, Katie’s signature announcement.

Julia knew before she answered the door she couldn’t
stay angry with her overzealous younger sister. She loved Katie too much. But she did manage
to put a grim, disapproving expression on her face.

“You really did a good job writing this up, Julia. I
couldn’t have done it better myself.”

“You did do it yourself. So help me, if you fabricated
a ton of lies about me, I’m not going and I may never speak to you again.”

Katie handed Julia one of the papers. “Here, read it
and tell me if everything isn’t true.”

Julia gave her sister a sideways glare snapping the
paper out of her hand. It held no more than a few scant lines of Katie’s exquisite cursive
penmanship.

Rough Edges by Jannifer Hoffman

In response to your ad for a nanny: I am very adept at handling children of all
ages. I was on a swim team for three years and helped finance my way through school by giving
piano lessons. My first aid skills are current and I have spent most of my adult life being a
caregiver to children. I fear my knowledge of horses is limited but I’m always open to learning
new things. I also have a special interest in twins. I look forward to hearing from you.

Respectfully,

Juliana Morgan

Julia read it twice, looking for a flaw. She finally
looked up at her self-satisfied grinning sister. “I don’t remember ever being interested in
horseback riding. I don’t even think I like horses.”

“But you’ve always had a compulsion to learning new
things. That’s why you took language courses that weren’t required and practiced piano until
your fingers swelled. I had the same number of lessons you did and I barely managed
Chopsticks.”

“That’s probably because you were more interested in
painting and dance classes.”

“You’re so full of it Katie—let me see the references
you conned out of your friends.”

Katie handed Julia three typed and signed letters.

With a skeptical glance at her sister Julia quickly
read the neatly typed references. The first one explained that Julia was instrumental in
helping her son when he broke his arm. She took charge during an emergency situation and saw
to it that my son got the medical treatment he needed.

Rough Edges by Jannifer Hoffman

Julia remembered the case. The boy had a compound
fracture. He came by ambulance, his mangled arm hanging loose, the bleeding stopped by
paramedics. She’d prepped the boy and sent him into immediate surgery to straighten the arm
and install a pin. The letter avoided the details but stuck with the truth.

The second, a two-year-old child, had swallowed a hard
candy. Julia, worked ER duty the night he was brought in barely breathing. The letter gave
her credit for saving the boy with fast thinking—no mention being made of her treating him as a
physician.

The third letter written by Katie’s next-door neighbor
explained how she had come running over hysterical, screaming that her husband was having a
seizure. It turned out to be a heart attack. Julia kept him breathing until the paramedics
arrived to take over. It was something anyone with cardio pulmonary training could have done.

Julia released a long, heavy, sigh when she looked up
at Katie. “What if he calls these people?”

“Not to worry. They all know the situation. I helped
them rehearse their answers.”

“You are an obnoxious brat, Katie. It’s a good thing I
love you anyway.” Then Julia noticed that Katie had another paper in her hand. “Okay, what’s
that one?” she asked.

Katie held up the paper. “What this?”

Rough Edges by Jannifer Hoffman

Julia bristled. “What is it, Kate?”

“Oh, just Mr. Travis’ reply.”

“You got a reply already?”

Katie grinned, handing over the fax.

“I don’t even want to know how you managed all this in
such a short time,” Julia said taking the letter.

Ms. Morgan,

My father has always warned me about something looking
too good. Your qualifications are too perfect to believe, but I’m going with my own gut
instinct on this.

This is extremely important to me so rather than have a
long distant phone conversation I’d prefer to meet you in person. Can you fly to Denver for an
interview on Saturday? Come prepared to start immediately. If I decide you are not right for
the job, I will pay you for your time and reimburse your expenses. I will do likewise if you
find you are not up to the assignment.

I trust everything you have told me is truthful.

If this plan works for you please fax your ETA so I can
pick you up at the airport.